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THE TAUNTON STOP LINE AND ITS CAMOUFLAGE: THE WORK OF OLIVER MESSEL AND OTHERS IN WARTIME SOMERSET

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 July 2020

David Hunt  and
Chris J Webster
David Hunt
Affiliation:
5 Greenacres Avenue, Winnersh, Wokingham, Berkshire RG41 5SX, UK. Email: [email protected]
Chris J Webster
Affiliation:
South West Heritage Trust, Brunel Way, Taunton, Somerset TA2 6SF, UK. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

The Taunton Stop Line was a defensive work built in the second half of 1940 to contain a possible German invasion of the south-west peninsula of Britain. The line ran across the ‘waist of the South West’ from the mouth of the river Parrett (in Somerset) to the mouth of the River Axe at Seaton (in Devon). This was a massive feat of construction involving both military and civilian personnel working under the threat of an imminent German invasion. Recently, some fifty contemporary sketches have come to light that were used to show the builders how to camouflage the individual pillboxes and emplacements. Discovering that many of these drawings were by well-known artists has led to an investigation of their role, an evaluation of their contribution to the camouflage, its effectiveness and limitations, and how this influenced subsequent army camouflage doctrine. They are believed to be the only such set of drawings to have survived.

Keywords

Second World Warwartime defencesanti-invasion structureslandscape archaeology
Type
Research paper
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 100 , September 2020 , pp. 408 - 431
Copyright
© The Society of Antiquaries of London, 2020

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References

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Army Training Memorandum (monthly pamphlet issued to all officers in the British Army)Google Scholar
BTC OHM/1/9, Wartime camouflage workGoogle Scholar
PRO WO 166/256, War Diary, 5 Corps: Commander Royal EngineersGoogle Scholar
PRO WO 166/298, War Diary, 8 Corps: General StaffGoogle Scholar
PRO WO 166/304, War Diary, 8 Corps: Chief EngineerGoogle Scholar
PRO WO 166/1251, War Diary, HQ Western AreaGoogle Scholar
PRO WO 167/43, War Diary, GHQ British Expeditionary Force: Engineer-in-ChiefGoogle Scholar
PRO WO 199/1626, HQ Southern Command, Camouflage, Camouflage General (1 Nov 39–31 Jan 41)Google Scholar
PRO WO 199/1628, HQ Southern Command, Camouflage, Works ServicesGoogle Scholar
PRO WO 199/1630, HQ Southern Command, Camouflage Schemes, South West DistrictGoogle Scholar
PRO WO 199/1714, HQ Southern Command, Construction of GHQ zone, anti-tank islands and centres of resistanceGoogle Scholar
PRO WO 199/1779, HQ Southern Command, Home Defence, Pillboxes: Employment in defenceGoogle Scholar
PRO WO 199/1803, HQ Southern Command, Works Services, Progress Report: Taunton LineGoogle Scholar
PRO WO 199/1810, HQ Southern Command, Works Services, Stop Lines: TauntonGoogle Scholar
PRO WO 199/1812, HQ Southern Command, Works Services, Matters connected with defensive worksGoogle Scholar
PRO WO 199/1813 HQ Southern Command, Works Services, Stop lines: Salisbury WestGoogle Scholar
SHC A/DHM/1, Illustrations of the camouflage of pillboxes on the Taunton Stop LineGoogle Scholar
SHC A/DHM/2, Framed sketches of camouflaged pill boxes on the Taunton Stop LineGoogle Scholar
SHC A/DHM/3, Reminiscences of Dennis MatraversGoogle Scholar
SHC C/S/5/3, Somerset County Council, County Surveyor: Road BlocksGoogle Scholar
SHC DD/S/BS/11, Bushell’s working notes for bookGoogle Scholar
SHC PAM1100, Stansell News spring 1990Google Scholar
Alexander, C 1999. Ironside’s Line, Historic Military Press, Storrington Google Scholar
Anon 1942. Military Engineering Vol IV, Part I: demolitions, HMSO, London Google Scholar
Bond, B 1991. ‘Ironside’, in Keegan, J (ed), Churchill’s Generals, 17−33, Cassell, London Google Scholar
Castle, C 1986. Oliver Messel: a biography, Thames and Hudson, London Google Scholar
Dawson, D, Hunt, D and Webster, C J 2011. Somerset and the Defence of the Bristol Channel in the Second World War, Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society, Taunton Google Scholar
Dobinson, C S 1996. ‘Twentieth century fortifications in England, volume II: anti-invasion defences of WWII’, unpublished Council for British Archaeology report, YorkGoogle Scholar
Dobinson, C 2000. Fields of Deception: Britain’s bombing decoys of World War II, Methuen, London Google Scholar
Ellis, L F 1953. The War in France and Flanders 1939–1940: history of the Second World War, United Kingdom military series, HMSO, LondonGoogle Scholar
Fleming, P 1957. Invasion 1940, Rupert Hart Davis, LondonGoogle Scholar
Goodden, H 2007. Camouflage and Art: design for deception in World War II, Unicorn, London Google Scholar
Gooding, M 2016. ‘Trevelyan, Julian Otto (1910–1988)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online edn, <https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/39970> (accessed 2 Jun 2020)CrossRef+(accessed+2+Jun+2020)>Google Scholar
Hartcup, G 1980. Camouflage: a history of camouflage and deception in war, Scribner, New York Google Scholar
Hawkins, M 1988. Somerset at War, 1935–1945, Dovecote Press, Wimborne [rev edn 1996]Google Scholar
Matravers, D 1990. ‘Looking back over 50 years’, Stansell News, spring, 6–7 (copy in SHC PAM1100)Google Scholar
Pepys-Whiteley, D 2010. ‘Messel, Oliver Hilary Sambourne (1904–1978)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online edn, <https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/31439> (accessed 2 Jun 2020)CrossRef+(accessed+2+Jun+2020)>Google Scholar
Royal Engineers 1936. Manual of Field Engineering, Vol. 2, HMSO, London Google Scholar
Trevelyan, J 1957. Indigo Days, MacGibbon and Kee, London Google Scholar
War Office 1941. Camouflage – Military Training Pamphlet No. 46 Part 2: Field Defences 1941 (20 June)Google Scholar
Warren, D 2000. Now You See It, Then You Didn’t: the Inter-Channel Stop Line, Survey 14, Somerset Industrial Archaeology Society, Taunton Google Scholar
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